Cuppa Connections Ep. 21: Meet One of Los Angeles's Female Black Coffee Shop Owners; This is Vanessa Punche's Story

Along our travels on our cross country road trip to Los Angeles, CA, Cate and I found out about Vanessa Punche, owner of LA Grind Coffee and Tea Bar. 

She started her coffee business career in 2018 because of the mistreatment and injustice of two black men being sent disrespectfully away from Starbucks. Coffee chose her. She didn't choose coffee.

We need more coffee shop owners like her. She loves her community of coffee lovers, her community of black people, and all of the many special people that visit her cafe.

She brings joy, passion, and a mentality of doing things the correct way at her coffee shop. She is real, loving, and funny as all get out. 

So sit back, sip on your coffee, and enjoy the ride with Vanessa Punche.

Transcript

Portia: 0:00

Hey guys. Welcome to Cuppa Connections. I'm Portia, and we're here coming to you from our virtual cafe, Better with a Cup of Coffee. We are savoring relationships with coffee lovers around the world and sharing their experiences that have been better with a cup of coffee. Hello everybody. I have a special guest again, and she is something. Look at her. I love her. Her name is Vanessa Punche. She is the owner of LA Grind Coffee and Tea Bar. This episode is about entrepreneurship, about being chosen. Mm. To About coffee, choosing a person versus the person choosing coffee, the business. Mm-hmm. Hmm. I wanna get a better, better understanding about the black coffee business, coffee shops in Los Angeles. As I mentioned to you before when we were talking, I never knew of black owned coffee businesses in Los Angeles when I was there between 2000 and or 2002 and 2015. Mm-hmm. So when were, when was LA Grind Coffee and Tea Bar created?

Vanessa: 1:20

Yeah. Yeah.

Portia: 1:21

And I, no. Why? Why? First? Because I know why, but I want people to know why.

Vanessa: 1:27

So. And first I must say, Portia, thank you for having me on. It's a definite honor. So my why, and I love when people ask me. Like, I'll be in the shop and I'll be making drinks. I'm kind of jumping ahead, but it's just a little, I'm just saying a little piece.

Portia: 1:43

Do you.

Vanessa: 1:44

Yeah. I'll be in the shop and they're like, oh wow. So like, Why, how did you get in coffee? And I, first thing I say to them is, oh, thank you for asking. So thank you for asking. But my why is the incident that went viral in 2018 where two African American men were arrested, uh, in a Starbucks while waiting on a colleague, a white colleague. It just did something to me. I knew at that point I could no longer support Starbucks cause they did not support people. I felt that they didn't support people who look like me. I went to Starbucks maybe, at that time when I was supporting them, at least four times a week. You know, I had my phone. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Cause I love me some coffee. So yeah, I love coffee. I loved coffee before Starbucks was a thing. I just kind of fell into that that whole thing. Yeah. Um, you know, I had the app on my phone if my balance was lower than, you know, what my coffee was for that day. Oh, gimme a second. You know? Okay. You know, and I was off on my way and, um, so it inspired me. I just was like, Uhuh, uhuh, uhuh. You can't have my money no more.

Portia: 3:08

Whoa.

Vanessa: 3:09

I will, I will not give you another dime for these types of things to continue to happen in, black communities, brown communities, you know, other communities. It's, you know, ridiculous. Mm-hmm. Um, and I will say now that thing went viral. Do you know I've shared this story with so many people, and I've had quite a few of them, they were like, oh my gosh, the same thing happened to me.

Portia: 3:38

What?

Vanessa: 3:40

Yeah. So they went into a Starbucks, was denied the ability to go to the bathroom. Um, in this particular incident, he asked if he can go to the bathroom. The barista or the cashier said, oh, we don't have a bathroom. In the meantime. Yeah. And he was like, oh, really? Okay. You know, shrugged it off. Went on his way to wait for his drink.

Portia: 4:03

Wait a minute. He had already ordered a drink, and he wanted to use their restrooms.

Vanessa: 4:09

Yes. He went to get his drink and while he's waiting, a man and his daughter, they weren't black. He says to the cashier, oh, can we use your restroom a again? And he was like, what? So, you know the barista who made the drink was trying to push him the drink, like, here you go, you know? Okay. Thank you. You know, she, cause she saw the whole thing. And I, I don't know the particulars, but he, took that up. Took, he escalated it.

Portia: 4:44

To management.

Vanessa: 4:45

Oh yeah.

Portia: 4:46

Great.

Vanessa: 4:46

Oh yeah. And this was in San Francisco. These are the things that happen constantly. Constantly. So yeah, this business chose me. I didn't choose this business.

Portia: 4:57

That I'm speechless at the moment, and that's pretty hard for me. You started your business now. Hey, the coffee industry. It's tough. It's a, it's very competitive.

Vanessa: 5:09

Yes.

Portia: 5:09

So, and when you say you chose or it chose you mm-hmm. That's saying a lot. Yeah. That this is your passion, that you were just, you were pushed right towards it. That's it.

Vanessa: 5:19

Right.

Portia: 5:20

Because you had mentioned to me also that you used to work for UCLA. So were you still working for UCLA when you made this transitition?

Vanessa: 5:31

Yes, yes, yes. I also say had that thing not happened, I would still be there. But, in my soul, I didn't wanna give them 30 years. At that point. I started working at UCLA when I was 30 and I was like, oh my gosh, I need something else. I'm not going to give this job all of my life. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll say this to this day, uCLA was good to me.

Portia: 6:01

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 6:01

But I mean, I enjoyed doing what I was doing also, so it wasn't just like, oh, let me go in and, you know, no. But in my soul, I was like, I don't have a thing. If I decide to leave this job, what am I gonna do?

Portia: 6:15

Hmm..

Vanessa: 6:16

There wasn't anything and all of my family, uh, were and still are entrepreneurs, and they would call me and tease me. We're on our way to Vegas, you know? And I'm like, oh. And they're like, you still working over there? You still, you know, so.

Portia: 6:32

No, they didn't.

Vanessa: 6:33

Yeah. So when I told them, when I told them I was leaving, they were like, it's about time. So, you know, that made me feel real good too, you know?

Portia: 6:45

Oh, you had that support. That support from your family. You know, a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs don't have that.

Vanessa: 6:52

Yeah.

Portia: 6:52

Cause they cause a lot of people around you don't get it.

Vanessa: 6:56

Right. Right. But they, they weren't new to entrepreneurship. I'm talking, well, from my brother, probably at that time, 35 years being his own boss.

Portia: 7:09

What is, what is.

Vanessa: 7:10

So he's a photographer, but he has dual jobs. So he's, uh, has his own business and he's a post-production. Um, he works on the Connors.

Portia: 7:22

Oh, the show?

Vanessa: 7:23

Yes, the show. So the, he does the post-production editing. He does the coloring. But he also has his own business where he does fine prints.

Portia: 7:33

I see.

Vanessa: 7:33

Um, yes.

Portia: 7:35

So when you decided to branch off from UCLA,

Vanessa: 7:39

mm-hmm.

Portia: 7:40

And you wanted to start your own business, did you get some insight from your family?

Vanessa: 7:44

Yeah. like for the name of the business, like I throw out names, I'd send it in a mass text. What do you think about this? What do you think about that? Da da da da. They're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And so I was like, oh, LA Grind. What about LA Grind? They're like, that's it. That's just one thing. Now, my brother, because he works film and television, he was like, Vanessa, you know, they have these trucks that come up here all the time. Why don't you do a mobile truck first? And as soon as he said it, the light bulb went on. I was like, yes.

Portia: 8:22

Yes.

Vanessa: 8:22

So I made it my mission. I talked about that truck when I l. So when I gave my letter of resignation, the goal was to get a coffee truck. I got a coffee truck and actually before I got the truck, I was literally in a contract at LAX, but because I kept talking about it and,

Portia: 8:43

Wait, wait, a contract for LAX to have your own coffee shop in LAX? Oh. That's a big deal.

Vanessa: 8:52

Yeah. So when they built out the Uber and Lyft lot. To separate the taxis, the Ubers, and the Lyfts, because they were needing to work on the people movers. And that would cut down on some of the congestion. They built out that particular area, uh, specifically for food trucks, and I fell right into it. I left UCLA in May of 2019. By October, I was in that contract and at LAX.

Portia: 9:25

That is exciting.

Vanessa: 9:27

It was very exciting.

Portia: 9:30

How did you, did you have to bid on that, or did you know someone in all?

Vanessa: 9:35

No, I didn't know any. He reached. So the, the young man who had the contract had to get trucks together to get them different shifts. So I was there, um, the morning shift.

Portia: 9:48

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 9:49

Monday through Friday.

Portia: 9:51

How'd you get out of this contract?

Vanessa: 9:53

Covid.

Portia: 9:55

Oh, COVID.

Vanessa: 9:58

Covid. March, 2020 Covid got me out.

Portia: 10:03

Where one door closes. Yeah. Another door opens.

Vanessa: 10:06

Yeah. Yeah.

Portia: 10:08

You just have to stay ready.

Vanessa: 10:09

I have to stay. Had to stay ready. Uh, it was very foreign not to, and I'm sure this is the same, uh, scenario for a lot of other people, but I can only share my, my story. It was very foreign. I did not know how to sit down and not be doing something like, it was bananas. But I quickly learned.

Portia: 10:30

And then you, And then you took your truck, and then where did you position it? Did you just drive all over LA or did you position it, um, where, where your brother had said to go?

Vanessa: 10:40

Yeah, so I did little things, you know, to, to, you know, you gotta find where you're basically wanted. And what I found, and especially being at LAX I found that me popping up, unless I was doing a big event, it wasn't quite what I expected it to be.

Portia: 11:01

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 11:02

We couldn't really do a lot. So even though I tried to take the truck out, people were very, you know, like.

Portia: 11:08

Apprehensive.

Vanessa: 11:09

Yeah. I'm not going anywhere. you know, I get it. I just kind of put the truck on hold, but my online coffee, that went through the roof.

Portia: 11:20

Well, okay, so.

Vanessa: 11:22

I have my own coffee brand.

Portia: 11:24

Ah ha. Haha.

Vanessa: 11:25

So I, I didn't even talk about that.

Portia: 11:28

Come on now. Bring that.

Vanessa: 11:30

That's where I started. I started selling my coffee at farmer's markets. And specifically in Compton at, yeah, the Compton Farmer's Market is where I got my start. Um, shall.

Portia: 11:43

Did you roast those? Did you roast those beans yourself, or did you?

Vanessa: 11:47

I found a roaster, and that just kind of came to me too, like literally everything just fell into my lap. I'm like, okay, Lord, you're showing me everything and I'm just gonna, keep moving along with the, the tools and everything that's falling into my lap. Right. So the, uh, the roaster is from Cameroon. So he's Cameroonian. He imports into the States and I purchased from him. And I've been purchasing my coffee exclusively from him. Like I won't do another brand. Mm-hmm. Or another roast or another origin. So a single origin from Cameroon. And I wanna touch on that, maybe a little later.

Portia: 12:30

Touch on it. Now. What's, what's that about?

Vanessa: 12:33

Talk about it. Let's talk about it. Okay. Portia, I don't think I mentioned that I have a twin sister.

Portia: 12:39

No.

Vanessa: 12:40

Okay. So I have a twin sister. Twin sister. So, you know, we basically shared the same dna.

Portia: 12:47

Uh huh

Vanessa: 12:48

We call each other womb mates. When she told me and I'm on my phone looking for it now, when she told me that she did our D N A well, and I say our again cuz she my twin. Okay.

Portia: 13:03

Yeah. Yeah.

Vanessa: 13:04

When she did the DNA and I'm looking at my phone now.

Portia: 13:08

Uhhuh.

Vanessa: 13:09

It gives you the percentage of what you are and how, how much of whatever is in you.

Portia: 13:14

Right?

Vanessa: 13:15

Cameroon is number two.

Portia: 13:18

See, you know what? First and foremost you put it out there, right? You,

Vanessa: 13:23

yeah.

Portia: 13:24

Made a decision, no, I'm not gonna stand for this. I'm going to move towards something.

Vanessa: 13:30

Yep.

Portia: 13:30

You had clarity and then you put it out there for God, the Universe. Yeah. And you were open to receive it.

Vanessa: 13:38

Right.

Portia: 13:38

But the key was that you were. You found clarity first. Yes. And that's what a lot of business people say, is that you have to be clear about what you want to do first.

Vanessa: 13:50

Right? Right.

Portia: 13:51

Look at you. Yeah. Look at you.

Vanessa: 13:53

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 13:56

That's a nice story. So, Man, I tell you, the coffee industry in Los angeles has boomed.

Vanessa: 14:03

It Yes, yes.

Portia: 14:05

It's like a coffee shop on every corner it seems. But again, they're different.. You all have something special.

Vanessa: 14:14

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 14:14

Um, to bring that you bring to the table.

Vanessa: 14:16

Yep.

Portia: 14:17

So now you get your coffee from this gentleman who is came, Cameroonian, is that how you say it?

Vanessa: 14:22

Yeah. Yeah.

Portia: 14:23

And your teas come from.

Vanessa: 14:25

My teas are so they, they aren't sourced anywhere. I just, don't put a whole emphasis on the teas.

Portia: 14:33

I hear ya.

Vanessa: 14:34

But the curation that I come up with the blends, un matched. Un.

Portia: 14:41

Look at you. You blend them. You, you come up with the blends yourself?

Vanessa: 14:44

I do.

Portia: 14:45

Okay. I'm not a tea drinker, but you know what? Whenever I'm in LA I'm gonna, we're gonna meet up and I'm gonna have to try the teas too, for sure.

Vanessa: 14:53

Yes, yes.

Portia: 14:54

Is your coffee, is the coffee fair trade, or?

Vanessa: 14:57

Yes, it's definitely fair trade. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Portia: 15:02

Aw.

Vanessa: 15:03

And I'm proud about that too.

Portia: 15:04

Right.

Vanessa: 15:04

Um, yeah, it's, it's great to know, uh, that those who are working the farms are, you know, getting fair trade. They're getting their due pay.

Portia: 15:15

Mm-hmm. Because it's a problem.

Vanessa: 15:18

It's a problem. It's a problem.

Portia: 15:21

It's very, very important that they do. Absolutely. I mean, because let's face it, without them Right, we wouldn't have this wonderful elixir. We take it for granted I think.

Vanessa: 15:31

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Portia: 15:32

If people are really interested in giving back, they definitely should look you up.

Vanessa: 15:37

Definitely.

Portia: 15:37

You being this wonderful entrepreneur, you started in 2018?

Vanessa: 15:44

Yes.

Portia: 15:44

Um, small beginnings.

Vanessa: 15:46

Yes.

Portia: 15:47

And humble beginnings.

Vanessa: 15:49

Yes.

Portia: 15:50

What did you find out about the coffee industry? Did you, were you frustrated at any point?

Vanessa: 15:57

Yeah. I, there was some, and I wouldn't even say necessarily frustration.

Portia: 16:02

Okay.

Vanessa: 16:03

Uh, just less awareness eyeopening and like, oh, okay. And when I say that, what I mean is, you know, so I was reaching for everything because I didn't know anything. I didn't know anything about being an entrepreneur at all. I knew, you know, how to run a household and, and, you know, so maybe there's a little background knowledge and, and, you know, working in management.

Portia: 16:28

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 16:29

But I, I was reaching for everything to absorb and, and, and put my hands on. I stumbled upon Coffee Fest. So each business genre has a, a trade show. I'm like, oh my gosh, sign me up. So I went to the, my first trade show in 2018.

Portia: 16:47

Where's that?

Vanessa: 16:48

Same, same year this happened? This was at the LA Convention Center. And when I tell you I was in there, I was the only, one of the only black girls up in there.

Portia: 16:59

Really?

Vanessa: 17:00

Oh yeah. First of all, when I look at coffee, I look at it in layers. First, it's white male dominated. Okay. And, then it's male dominated. And then, there's woman dominated, cuz I can't say white women.

Portia: 17:16

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 17:16

cuz it, probably, uh,

Portia: 17:18

Mixture of cultures.

Vanessa: 17:19

Mix.

Portia: 17:20

Uhhuh. Okay.

Vanessa: 17:21

And then there's black women.

Portia: 17:23

Oh, so you're saying you're at the low end of the totem pole?

Vanessa: 17:26

Yes, yes. Yes. Yeah.

Portia: 17:29

Um, you just weren't exposed to it, first of all, I guess. Is that what you're saying?

Vanessa: 17:34

I wasn't exposed to it to the degree that I am now. I mean, I love coffee. I was drinking coffee at the little kids' table with the little chair. My grand parents.

Portia: 17:44

Wait a minute. We talking about Folders or Sanka?

Vanessa: 17:48

You know. Well, they had a percolator.

Portia: 17:51

Oh yes.

Vanessa: 17:52

You know, you know, you could see it go up.

Portia: 17:54

Yeah. The little.

Vanessa: 17:55

And that clear little thing. And it would come. Yes. So we probably, They probably gave us more cream and sugar than they did coffee, but we had a little, little coffee cups, And they give us, Give us some coffee. Okay. So that's how I was first exposed, and I think probably you, you never know what a thing is going to bring you to, but I've loved coffee, like walking down the coffee aisle. That's my high.

Portia: 18:22

Oh, I hear ya.

Vanessa: 18:23

I could go down in the grocery store and I'm like, ooh.

Portia: 18:26

I know it's just that aroma. It's no other, no other section, right? No other section.

Vanessa: 18:31

No, no. Just that smell. It just, it's euphoric.

Portia: 18:36

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 18:36

Yeah. So, mm-hmm.

Portia: 18:38

So you were exposed as a child. Yeah. But as far as the business side of running a coffee business, no. Um, but no, you did have other, uh, your family members who were business owners, so that was great.

Vanessa: 18:50

Yes, yes.

Portia: 18:51

Now, where are you originally from? Are you from CA.

Vanessa: 18:54

Born and raised in LA.

Portia: 18:56

In LA. Oh, that's awesome. I bet everyone is so proud of you by your accomplishment accomplishments.

Vanessa: 19:04

Yeah. And you know, sometimes I really, I really startled myself. Like, I wanna say in the beginning, like, it hasn't all been, sunshine and rainbows. There were some days where I'm like, oh my Gosh, What were you thinking? You can't do this. But I, I had to, I had to prove to myself, and then from there it just got, okay, I gotta prove to my family. Then, you know, I couldn't let them down because, you know, I started this thing. But not only could I not let them down, it was something that was in me that yeah, we doing this, you talked about it, you doing this.

Portia: 19:44

I love it.

Vanessa: 19:44

And the fear, I think the fear kind of really fueled a lot of the stuff, cause I'll tell you, driving my truck, I mean, there were days when I drove that truck crying. I was like, oh my gosh. But, you know, I can one hand it.

Portia: 20:02

Wipe your tears and keep driving.

Vanessa: 20:04

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Portia: 20:08

Tell me something, I'm curious. And that area that you are in, it's, it's a neighborhood.

Vanessa: 20:13

Yes.

Portia: 20:14

What do you feel like you bring to that neighborhood? I love neighborhood, neighborhood coffee shops. There is, better feeling than walking out of your place in the mornings, lunchtime or whenever, uh, to go grab a cup of coffee at your favorite spot.

Vanessa: 20:30

Yeah. So I, I, and I love that community. My grandparents actually, uh, had a home not very far. So I'm was very familiar with the community. But yeah, I mean, I have my, definitely have my repeat customers, you know, and I know them by first name. They know me. Hey Vanessa, you know? And even if I haven't seen a couple of them for a little while, and they walk in, it is all hugs and I'm like, oh my gosh, where have you been? You know, I've been thinking about you. And a lot of times, because of the season that we're in, and I'll say the Covid season. Mm-hmm. And I, you know, we're, I think we're just about over that, but that's another topic. You know, my mind went there. I'm like, oh my gosh, I hope something didn't happen to them.

Portia: 21:16

Awww.

Vanessa: 21:17

Because I didn't, I hadn't seen, you know, a couple months go by, you know? Yeah. But then, you know, you find out, I had lost my job, you know, but I'm working again, so now I could. So, you know, and that's part of the ebbs and flows as well. Yeah. But yeah, I like to think that they embrace me. I've definitely embraced them. We do stuff, uh, in the community, you know, around the holidays we do. Uh, I partner with my business neighbor, Zoe's Vintique, and she has been doing for years, feeding the community. So I jump right on in with her. I'm like, okay, what time? What do I need to bring? And I'm there. Um, and then for Christmas we do a toy drive..

Portia: 21:57

Oh, wow.

Vanessa: 21:58

Yeah, so it's always something um, to definitely give back. And not just offering, you know, our coffee, but we do stuff in the shop. Like, there's the yoga instructor. I want it to be community based. I have art on my wall from the community. I have maybe six to eight different artists whose art is represented on the walls in my coffee shop.

Portia: 22:26

Can people buy those or?

Vanessa: 22:28

Yes.

Portia: 22:29

Lovely.

Vanessa: 22:30

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And some of the art has sold off the wall.

Portia: 22:34

Look at that.

Vanessa: 22:35

Yes. Yes. So that's always nice to be able to Invite people into the space.

Portia: 22:41

Did I read where you have jazz?

Vanessa: 22:43

I do, I do.

Portia: 22:45

Look at you. Talk.

Vanessa: 22:46

So the first and third Thursday, so that means this Thursday the sixth, we will be, uh, having our jazz going on.. He's my resident artist. He goes by the name of Maestro, the vocalist, and uh, the gentleman who a accompanies him is Gerald, and he plays keyboards and saxophone and they both sing beautifully. Maestro plays a electric violin. So very nice. Yeah. And then just this year upstairs, so I have kind of like a loft. I opened that space up to a young lady to do an apothecary.

Portia: 23:25

Ah.

Vanessa: 23:26

So we have wholeness wellness. So now, not only can you get your coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and amazing pastries and foods, vegan items, you could go upstairs and get some holistic, herbs, teas.

Portia: 23:40

Your business is like a social media platform where you just stay. You just spend time there. Yeah. You know, you can spend time at a coffee shop. Yes. But then when you have other entities, other nooks is what I like to say. Yeah. That just adds more to giving people value.

Vanessa: 23:56

Yes.

Portia: 23:57

I am so, happy that I got you. Or that you returned my phone call.

Vanessa: 24:02

Oh, thank you.

Portia: 24:04

Because I knew I knew you were gonna be a treat. A couple of things I wanna to leave people with. One, what advice would you give, not just new entrepreneurs, but our youth of today? What kind of advice would you give them when they have this idea of, I wanna start something, and they have this fear?

Vanessa: 24:23

First of all, I, I would like to commend anybody, especially the youth, cuz they're, starting out younger and younger now. I know some little, uh, entrepreneurs and I'm like, where did you think of that? Like, I was playing with my dolls, and you know, but it's, I say running a business, and when you're a young, juvenile entrepreneur, even maybe someone who's just in their early twenties, there may not be the fear, you know?

Portia: 24:57

Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 24:57

That fear factor may not be there. They're probably just like, I'm gonna do this and this is what I'm gonna do and this is how it looks. But I would definitely say hopefully you have a support system. Hopefully you're, you know, doing some research, uh, to make sure there's a market for what you want to do. I know when I was leaving UCLA, the thing that I had told my team, cuz they didn't know what I was doing when I decided to retire. I told them to find something that's broke and fix it. Um, and I think when you're young, you have more time to bounce back from certain, I wouldn't call it a disappointment, but maybe mistakes.

Portia: 25:42

Okay.

Vanessa: 25:42

Cause we all make mistakes.

Portia: 25:43

Right.

Vanessa: 25:43

But, the younger you are, you make those mistakes in business, you can learn from them and move on. And maybe that'll help you to get to that next level. Uh, I would definitely also say, mentors.

Portia: 25:58

That is so important.

Vanessa: 25:59

Yeah. Like I need a business coach. So don't feel like, oh, I know this, I got, you know. No, there's always something that you can learn from someone else.

Portia: 26:11

Yes. Yes.

Vanessa: 26:12

So, yeah, keep an open mind. Um, yeah.

Portia: 26:16

Well, you know what, that leads me with another question. If I'm calculating it right, mm-hmm. You started working at UCLA when you were 30.

Vanessa: 26:23

Uhhuh.

Portia: 26:24

And you told me that you worked for them for 25 years.

Vanessa: 26:27

Almost 25.

Portia: 26:28

Yeah. Almost 25 years, right? Mm-hmm. So you left this security blanket.

Vanessa: 26:34

Yes.

Portia: 26:35

Now a lot of people, and they're entrepreneurs of all age ranges.

Vanessa: 26:40

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 26:41

That can be very daunting for someone who is, who had a career. Yeah. And they wanna start something new. Yeah. What's your advice, just briefly, you know, what's your advice to entrepreneurs who of your mature age.

Vanessa: 26:56

So again, when I say UCLA was good to me, It also in the fact that I had a nest egg. So I, when I look at people who are starting businesses now, cuz I didn't wanna take out any loans. I wanted to self-fund everything, which I did. Like, I own my coffee truck, I bought it. Mm. Um, so.

Portia: 27:20

Because you are it, you know, you are me, you are who I'm striving to be. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

Vanessa: 27:25

Yeah. I just believed so much in myself. I believed in the product that I had. And then again, the support system that I had that cheered me on. It's not, definitely not for the faint of heart because I like getting a check every two weeks, like paid vacations, paid sick time. If, if you think you can't live without those, then I'm gonna say, this is not the thing for you. You know, because they're, they're, we're in an economy right now. Who knew that we were gonna be in a pandemic?

Portia: 27:59

No one on this earth. I mean, people can say they can predict this and that, but Yeah, but no. Mm-hmm.

Vanessa: 28:04

No. The, the general population, yes. Had no idea. So just make sure you have, you know, stuff set aside. And when I say stuff, I mean monies. I wouldn't say just jump out there and do it. You know, I did have some funds that I was able to, you know, capitalize on to help me, you know, get to certain things.

Portia: 28:26

Well that's a good lesson. Yeah. Because a lot of times you don't have that nest egg. Yeah. You are trying to get loans or,

Vanessa: 28:33

Right.

Portia: 28:33

You are spending monies that.

Vanessa: 28:36

Credit cards.

Portia: 28:37

Yes.

Vanessa: 28:37

Yeah. All of that. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't have to do any of that. I did r you know, I rolled over and I took, you know, a little bit from here, you know. I definitely, am very, very grateful for that. But I also, you know, when I was going out to the farmer's markets, cuz I did that for quite a little while, not long, but I was able to put monies aside. And that just went it back into the business.

Portia: 29:03

So you were great at managing your money first and foremost.

Vanessa: 29:06

Oh yeah.

Portia: 29:06

That's a good lesson too. Definitely. Well, so where can people find you find LA Grind Coffee and Tea Bar? Are you on social media, all that stuff?

Vanessa: 29:18

Yes. So you can find me, physically at 1412 South Redondo Boulevard in LA, and that's zip code 90019. So I'm on Redondo and Pico. On social media, Facebook and Instagram. I have a Twitter. but I don't use it. So LA Grind Coffee and Tea Bar and everything is spelled out.

Portia: 29:41

Thank you so much. This has been enlightening. It really has been. I'm, I'm grateful.

Vanessa: 29:47

Yeah.

Portia: 29:48

We're gonna keep in touch. Okay?

Vanessa: 29:50

Absolutely.

Portia: 29:51

Okay. Well you have a great night.

Vanessa: 29:53

Thank you. Thank you very much Portia.

Portia: 29:55

You're so welcome. You're welcome.

Vanessa: 29:56

Nice meeting you.

Portia: 29:57

You as well. Okay. Bye-bye. I'm Portia White, and I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsor betterwithacupofcoffee.com. If you want to be our guest on our show, email me at cuppaconnections@gmail.com. And if you liked what you heard, please write and review our podcast. And, join us again soon on Cuppa Connections.